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THE 



Silent 
Assistant 



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THIS BOOK IS FOR THE EYE OF THE PURCHASER ONLY 
AND SHOULD NOT BE LOANED. 



THE 



SILENT ASSISTANT 



OB, A 



Key to a Profitable Occupation 



FOR ANY PERSON. 



Containing Rare and Valuable Trade and Mechanical Secrets, Money-making 
Inventions, Old and New Discoveries, Curious and Scientific Experi- 
ments, and Practical Receipts, with full Instructions for 
Manufacturing and Preparing for Sale some of 



The Most Popular and Best Selling Household Articles of the Day» 



A VERITABLE ASSISTANT. 



'A useful book may live from age to age 
And those unborn may read its printi 



H. G. FAY, Publi 




No...1..3.9.;.3''? 



EUTLAND, VERMONT. 



To the Working Classes 



We dedicate this little book to all those who labor for a living in 
■any capacity. We believe it will prove a veritable assistant for those 
who already have satisfactory occupations and a friend in need to such 
as are not provided with some legitimate and honorable business pur- 
suit. It condenses an amount of information which, could it be col- 
lected together iti other forms, would cost fnany times the price of this 
volume. We submit the contents to those to whom the work is dedi- 
cated, as a constant and invaluable source of reference in their daily 
and hourly needs. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, by 

11. G. FAY, 

in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



TO THE WORKING CLASSES OF AMERICA. 



Everybody wishes to make money and "feel happy," 
and this is commendable because all should endeavor to 
provide against future wants. But how few there are 
who ever succeed in obtaining a decent living. By 
working hard from morning until night, and living in 
the most economical manner, perhaps one-half the people 
manage to stay on the earth, but it is merely staying, and 
nothing more. I do not believe it was designed that 
people should drudge in perpetual slavery just to keep 
the breath of life in their bodies. But look around you 
and see how many persons you know who have enough 
for all future need. You will find that, compared with 
the whole, they are very few. The question then arises, 
what course to pursue to make the most money in the 
shortest time and easiest manner. Unquestionably the 
surest and easiest road to a fortune lies in trade ; in fact, 
not one man in ten thousand ever acquired a very large 
fortune in any other manner. It is not necessary, as 
many suppose, to have a very large capital to start with. 
Some of the richest men in the world start peddling on 
less than ten dollars capital. 

To succeed in anything in life, two or three prime 
requisites are absolutely required. First, the man must 
not be above his business. All business is honorable 
that is honorably conducted. Second, there must be a 
willing cheerfulness to work — no drones are wanted in 
the world's busy hive of industry. Third, he must never 
wait for something to "turn up," but otherwise, go to 
work and turn up something. This is a great fault with 



4 TO THE WORKING CLASSES OF AMERICA. 

many young men, that they will only do some great thing 
or highly respectable business, and because the great 
thing does not turn up without effort, they do nothing. 
Poor, deluded mortals ! looking for the end before they 
can discover a beginning. Fourth, he must be persistent. 
Thousands of enterprises, great and small, are started in 
this world, and fall through, simply because of lack of 
persistency. Whatever business is started, stick to it 
"through thick and thin," and success must follow. 
Fifth, he must be economical in his business and his 
living. A man who clears ten dollars a day and spends 
eleven dollars a day, will never realize a fortune. Sixth 
and last, he must be enterprising, wide awake and 
advertise. He must never hide his light under a bushel. 
If he has business worth doing at all, it will pay to 
advertise it by aid of circulars and newspapers. 

In the manufacture and sale of any of the following 
articles mentioned in this book, any enterprising man or 
woman can make money. The majority of the receipts 
are new, while many of them have never appeared in 
print before. Manufactured and neatly put up, they will 
afford large profits in almost every locality. Before 
entering on this trade ascertain by experiment what 
articles take best in your neighborhood, and then care- 
fully prepare these, putting them up as neatly and tastily 
as possible. If you lack capital to manufacture, you can 
adopt another plan ; namely, to sell the receipts. These 
will be well worth to the purchaser a sum at which the 
seller can realize a good income. If not misrepresented, 
it is fair and honorable business. It is customar}^ for 
sellers of receipts to have one or more printed on a piece 
of paper enclosed in a sealed envelope, which is not 
opened until the price has been received. A description 
of the articles is given on the outside of the envelope, 
while the seller of the article shows a sample of it made 
from the receipt he is disposing of. 

With ordinary energy, enterprise and persistency there 
is no reason whatever why you cannot make an income 
of from $5.00 to $20.00 a day by consulting this little 
book and adopting the suggestions herein given. 



The Silent Assistant, 



CONTAINING 



R.-E .ND Valuable Secrets, Money-making Inven- 
*" TioNS, Old and New Discoveries, Scientific 
Experiments, and Practical 
Receipts, 

WITH FULL INSTRUCTIONS FOR MANUFACTL-RIKG AND PREPAPaNO 
FOR SALE SOME OF 

THE MOST VALUABLE AND BEST SELLING 
ARTICLES OF THE DAY. 



VALUABLE TRADE SECRETS. 

We desire to call vour anenrion to the first seven 
receipts riven in this book. We consider this 'ntormanon 
3 oIe thousaxd dollars to any smart, acnve man 
or woman We mean just what we say. One thousand 
doUarTI^ a mere song^or these re^pts. f- - "^^ 
tiiese articles are not new invennons or nonbcn^icai 
n^^ltief but staple and saleable goods. Over 5,°oo 
stores are selling these goods in New York city and ,t 
win be ckarlv perceived Ihat in calculating the demand 
anv populo'us ^•illage or to^™, the manutactu^.e f 
these anicles as a business must prove ver> Profitable to 
any person who may devote attention to the subject. 

Improved Troy Starch Enamel. 

Melt - lbs of refined parafine wax in a tin boUer or 
^anover'a slow fire; use c^are in melting, ^^-hen melted, 
?emov^ the vessel from the fire and add .00 drops of 



6 THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 

oil of citronelli. Take some new round tin pie pans and 
oil them with sweet oil as you would for pie baking, but 
do not use lard. Put these pans on a level table, and 
pour in enough of the hot wax to make a depth in each 
pan equal to about the thickness of one-eighth of an 
inch. While hot, glance over the pans to see that they 
are level. As this is very essential, please remember it. 
If the pans are not level, the cakes will be all thicknesses, 
which should not be so. Let them cool, but not too 
fast. Watch diem closely, and have a tin stamp ready 
to stamp the cakes out about the size of an ordinary 
candy lozenge. This stamp should be about eight inches 
long, larger at the top than at the bottom, so that the 
cakes can pass up through the stamp as you are cutting 
them out of the pans. Lay the cakes in another pan to 
cool. Before they become very hard, separate them from 
each other ; if not, it will be difficult to do so when they 
become very hard. Do not neglect this. Have boxes 
made at any paper box maker's in any large city. They 
cost about from one to two cents each; sliding boxes are 
the best. Have your labels printed, and commence 
business at once. Put 24 to 30 cakes in each box, and 
retail for 25 cents. Wholesale for $1.50 per dozen. 

Directions for Use. — To a pint of boiling starch 
stir in one cake or tablet. This gives an excellent lustre 
to linen or muslin, and imparts a splendid perfume to 
the clothes, and makes the iron pass very smoothly over 
the surface. It requires but half the ordinary labor to 
do an ironing. It is admired by every lady. It prevents 
the iron from adhering to the surface, and the clothes 
remain clean and neat much longer than by any other 
method. 

Brilliant Self-Shining Stove JPolish, 

This is one of the greatest inventions of the age. It 
has been the result of a large amount of study on the 
part of the inventor to perfect a polish that would work 
easily and satisfactorily in a perfectly dry state, thereby 
obviating the disagreeable task of mixing and preparing. 



THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 7 

A good Stove polish is an absolute necessity in every 
family. It is only a question, then, of offering the best 
to make a sale. To prove that this polish is the best, is 
an easy task. All you have to do is to have a box open 
and a piece of rag to begin operations. You now 
approach the stove, and apply the polish. The result will 
be so startlingly beautiful that no further words will be 
necessary. If the stove is not convenient, anything will 
do to experiment with. You can produce on a piece of 
wood, a scrap of paper or a potato, a lustre equal to a 
burnished mirror. 

Now make the following points just as strong as you 
can: i. That this polish requires no water or mixing 
like the various cake or powder polishes. 2. That it is 
self -shining, and no labor is required. 3. That no dust or 
smell of any kind rises from its use. And lastly, that it 
has no equal in the world. 

RECEIPT. — Take plumbago (black lead) finely pulver- 
ized, and put in 2 oz. wood boxes nicely labelled, and sell 
for 10 or 15 cents a box. Wholesale to stores and agents 
at $6.00 a hundred. Costs less than 3 cents per box to 
manufacture. 

Directions for Use. — Use a damp woolen rag, dip 
in the box, and apply to the stove. Then polish with a 
dry cloth, and a most beautiful polish will appear. 

The Housekeeper's Frtend, 

Or ELECTRIC POWDER. 

This is one of the most saleable articles of the day, and 
staple as flour — something that ever}- housekeeper will 
buy. It is used for gold and silver plated ware, German 
silver, brass, copper, glass, tin, steel, or any material 
where a brilliant lustre is required. Is put up in 2 oz. 
wood boxes, costs 3 cents to manufacture, sells at retail 
for 25 cents, to agents and stores for $12.00 per 100 
boxes. 

RECEIPT.— To 4 lbs. best quality whiting add ^4 lb. 
cream tartar and 3 ozs. calcined magnesia, mix thoroughly 
together, box and label. 



8 THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 

Directions. — Use the polish dry with a piece of 
chamois skin or canton flannel previously moistened with 
water or alcohol, and finish with the polish dry. A few 
moments rubbing will develope a surprising lustre, differ- 
ent from the polish produced by any other substance. 

Mason^s Frozen I^erfunie, 

This perfume is in a solid, transparent form, and by 
rubbing on a handkerchief it imparts an exquisite per- 
fume ; by carrying it in the pocket it perfumes the entire 
wearing apparel ; by keeping in a drawer or box all 
articles therein obtain the benefits of this perfume. 

Solidified perfumes are superior to all liquid, as they 
cannot spill or waste in any manner, but will last for 
years. 

Perhaps no article of luxury has had such a sale as 
this, and as the sales have steadily increased since its 
introduction, no other proof of its excellence is needed. 

RECEIPT. — Follow the same direction as in "Starch 
Enamel," and perfume as follows: Take 2 ozs. oil lemon 
grass and % oz. oil cloves, and ]^ oz. oil lavender 
flowers ; mix them well together. For this amount of 
perfume you require about 4 quarts of the liquid parafline. 
Pour the oils into the melted parafline while warm, stirring 
it well while pouring. Stamp into square cakes and put 
into neatly printed envelojDes. Sell for ten cents a cake, 
cost 2 cents. Agents can sell 100 cakes a day. 

The Lightning Ink JEraser, 

The great Lightning Ink Eraser may be used instead 
of a knife or scraper for erasing in order to rectify a 
mistake or clean off a blot, without injury to the paper, 
leaving the paper as clean and good to write upon as it 
was before the blot or mistake was made, and without 
injury to the printer's ink upon any printed form or ruling 
upon any first-class paper. Take of chloride of lime 
I lb., thoroughly pulverized, and 4 quarts soft water. 
The above must be thoroughly shaken when first put 
together. It is required to stand twenty-four hours to 



THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 9 

dissolve the chloride of lime. Then strain through a 
cotton cloth, after which add a teaspoonful of ascetic acid 
(No. 8, commercial) to every ounce of chloride of lime 
water. The eraser is used by reversing the penholder in 
the hand, dipping the end in the fluid, and applying it, 
without rubbing, to the blot to be erased. When the ink 
has disappeared, absorb the fluid into a. blotter, and the 
paper is immediately ready to write upon. Put up in 
common ink bottles and retail for 25 cents each. 

Sure Corn Cure, 

One-half oz. tincture of iodine, }^ oz. chloride of 
antimony, 12 grains iodide of iron; mix; pare the com 
with a sharp knife ; apply the lotion with a small pencil 
brush. Put up in one ounce bottles. Sells for 25 to 40 
cents. This sells to everybody. (See price of labels). 

N. B. — The law imposing stamp dwty on medicines, 
compounds, perfumes, cosmetics, etc., has been repealed. 

The Magie Annihilator, 

To make one gross 8 oz. bottles — aqua-ammonia i 
gallon, soft water 8 gallons, best white soap four lbs., 
saltpetre 8 ounces. Shave the soap fine, add the water, 
boil until the soap is dissolved, let it get cold, then add 
the saltpetre, stirring until dissolved. Now strain, let 
the suds settle, skim off the dry suds, add the ammonia, 
bottle and cork at once. Costs about $7.25 per gross; 
sells for $72.00. It will do everything claimed for it and 
more too. It is no mixture of soap suds as some may 
suppose, but a pure, scientific, chemical preparation. If 
you wish to make a small quantity for trial take aqua- 
ammonia 2 ozs., soft water i quart, saltpetre one teaspoon- 
ful. Shave the soap fine, mix all, shake well, and let 
settle a day or two to dissolve the soap. 

What It Will Do. — It will remove all kinds of grease 
and oil spots from ever}^ variety of wearing apparel, 
such as coats, pants, vests, dress goods, carpets, etc., 
without injury to the finest silks or laces. It will 
shampoo like a charm, raising the lather in proportion 



lO THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 

to the amount of dandruff and grease in the hair. A 
cloth wet with it will remove all grease from door knobs, 
window sills, etc., handled by kitchen domestics in their 
daily routine of kitchen work. It will remove paint from 
a board, I care not how hard or dry it is, if oil is used in 
the paint, yet it will not injure the finest textures. Its 
chemical action is such that it turns any grease or oil into 
soap, which is easily washed out with clear cold water. 
For cleaning silver, brass and copper ware it can't be 
beat. It is certain death to bed bugs, for they will never 
stop after they have encountered the Magic Annihilator. 

Directions for Use. — For grease spots, pour upon 
the article to be cleaned a sufficient quantity of the 
Magic Annihilator, rubbing well with a clean sponge, and 
applying to both sides of the article you are cleaning. 
Upon carpets and coarse goods, where the grease is hard 
and dry, use a stiff brush and wash out with clear cold 
water. Apply again if necessary. One application is 
all that is needed for any fresh grease spots, but for old 
or dried a second may be required. For shampooing, 
take a small quantity of the Magic Annihilator with an 
equal quantity of water, apply to the hair with a stiff 
brush, brushing into the pores of the scalp, and wash out 
with clear water. You will be surprised at the silk gloss 
of your hair. For cleaning silverware, etc., buy five 
cents' worth of whitening, mix a small quantity with the 
Magic Annihilator and apply with a rag, rubbing briskly. 
For killing bed bugs, apply to the places they frequent, 
and they will leave in short order. You will find it useful 
in many other ways. (See price list of labels). 



MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. 

A New Art, or the Ligiitning^ Interest Rule. — Re- 
duce the whole time to months and set it down in figures ; divide the 
number of days by three, and set the quotient down to the right of the 
months, and multiply that by the quotient of the money divided by 
the two ; the answer will be the interest at six j^er cent. To change to 
any other rate, multiply the interest by it and divide by six. $i6o — 
one year, seven months. 21 days, at 6 per cent. — ^160 — 2 — $80 x 197 
— $15.76 at 6. 

Parties in New York are teaching this rule at $5 a scholar. 



THE SILENT ASSISTANT. H 

Beautiful Bright Red Ink. — Cochineal 2 ounces, bruised; 
pour over it one quart of boiling water and let it stand. Boil 2 ounces 
Brazil wood in i pint soft water, for half an hour, and in twenty-four 
hours mix the two together. Dissolve half ounce gum arable in a 
pint of hot water, and when cool add to the other, stir well, bottle, 
let stand one week, and then strain it through muslin. 

LiUniinous Ink. — Shines in the dark. Phosphorous yz 
drachm; oil cinnamon }i ounce; mix in a vial, cork tightly, heat it 
slowly until mixed. A letter written in this ink can only be' read in a 
dark room, when the writing will have the appearance of a fire. 

Invisible Ink. — Sulphuric acid i part, water 20 parts; mix 
together and write with a quill pen, which writing can be read only 
after heating it. 

Horticultural Ink. — Copper, r part; dissolve in nitric acid, 
10 parts, and add water, 10 parts; used to write on zinc or tin labels. 

Bottle Wax. — Black. — Black rosin, 6% lbs.; beeswax, >^ lb.; 
finely powdered ivory black, 1% lbs. Melt together. Red. — As the 
last, but substitute Venetian red or red lead, for the ivory black. 

BrOAVn Ink. — A strong decoction of catechu. The shade may 
be varied by the cautious addition of a little weak solution of bi-chro- 
mate of potash. 

Indelible Ink for Glass or Metal. — Borax, i oz.; shellac, 

2 oz.; water, !?> Jiuid oz. ; boil in a covered vessel; add of thick 
mucilage, i oz.; triturate it with levigated indigo and lamp-black q. s. 
to give it a good color. After two hours repose decant from the 
dregs and bottle for use. It may be bronzed after being applied. 
Resists moisture, chlorine and acids. 

liiquid Mucilag"e. — Fine clean glue, i lb.; gum arable, 10 oz.; 
water, i quart; melt by heat in a glue kettle or water bath; when 
entirely melted, add slowly 10 oz. strong nitric acid, set off to cooL 
Then bottle, adding a couple of cloves to each bottle. 

Coffee for Pound Packag'es. — Best Java coffee, i lb.; 
rye, 3 lbs. ; carefully clean the rye from all bad grains, wash to remove 
dust, drain off the water, and put the grain into your roaster, carefully 
stirring to brown it evenly. Brown the rye and coffee separately, 
grind, and put up m tight packages to preserve the aroma. 

Blueing" for Clothes. — Take i oz. of soft Prussian blue, 
powder it, and put in a bottle with i quart of clear rain water, and 
add X o^- of oxalic acid. A teaspoonful is sufficient for a large 
washing. 

Swaini's Vermifuge. — Wormseed 2 oz., valerian, rhubarb, 
pink-root, white agaric, of each i}^ oz. ; boil in sufficient water 
to yield 3 quarts of decoction, and add to it 30 drops of oil of tansy 
and 45 drops of oil of cloves, dissolved in a quart of rectified spirits. 
Dose, I tablespoonful at night. 



12 THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 

Ticketing" Ink, for Grocers, &c. — Dissolve i oz. of gum 
arabic in 6 oz. of water, and strain ; this is the mucilage ; for a black 
€olor, use drop-black, powdered, and ground with the mucilage to 
extreme fineness; for blue, ultra-marine is used in the same manner; 
for green, emerald green ; for white, flake white ; for red, vermillion, 
lake, or carmine ; iox yellow, chrome yellow. When ground too thick, 
they are thinned with a little water. Apply to the cards with a small 
"brush. The cards may be sized with a thin glue, and afterwards var- 
nished, if it is desired to preserve them. 

Common Ink. — To i gallon boiling soft water, add )^ oz. 
extract logwood ; boil two minutes ; remove from the fire, and stir in 
48 grains bi-chromate of potash, and 8 grains prussiate of potash; 
for 10 gallons, use 6)^ oz. logwood extract, i oz. bi-chromate of pot- 
ash, and 80 grains prussiate potash; strain; six cents should buy the 
first and twenty-five cents the last. 

Black Copying Ink, or Writing Fluid. — Take 2 gal- 
lons rain water, and put into it gum arabic, %. lb. ; brown sugar, 
X lb.; clean copperas, X ^^-j powdered nutgalls, % lb.: mix, and 
shake occasionally for ten days, and strain ; if needed sooner, let it 
stand in an iron kettle until the strength is obtained. This ink will 
stand the action of the atmosphere for centuries if required. 

Red Ink. — In an ounce phial put i teaspoonful aqua-ammonia, 
gum arabic, size of two or three peas, and 6 grains of No. 40 carmine; 
fill up with soft water, and it is soon ready for use. 

Portable Lemonade. — Tartaric acid i oz., white sugar 
2 lbs., essence of lemon % oz. ; powder and keep dry for use. One 
dessert spoonful will make a glass of lemonade. 

Ayer's Cberry Pectoral. — Take 4 grains of acetate of 
morphia, 2 fluid drams of tincture of bloodroot, 3 fluid drams each of 
antimonial wine and wine of ipecacuanha, and 3 fluid oz. syrup of 
wild cherry. Mix. 

Brown's Bronchial Troches. — Take i lb. of pulverized 
extract of licorice, i^^ lbs. of pulverized sugar, 4 oz. of pulverized 
cubebs, 4 oz. pulverized gum arabic, and i oz. of pulverized extract 
of conium. Mix. 

Russia Salve. — Take equal parts of yellow wax and sweet oil, 
melt slowly, carefully stirring ; when cooling, stir in a small quantity 
of glycerine. Good for all kinds of wounds, &c. 

To Make Rubber Stamp Ink. — Dissolve aniline in hot 
glycerine, and strain while hot or warm. 

To Make Pads. — A piece of fine woolen cloth, saturated 
with ink, makes an excellent pad, but it is customary to place sheet 
cotton underneath and muslin over the cloth, bringing the muslm 
down around the edges and fasten by tacking on a binding of tin or 
morocco leather strips. 



THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 13 

To Make Wax Flowers.— The following articles will be 
required to commence wax work : 2 lbs. white wax, % lb. hair wire, 
I bottle carmine, i ultramarine blue, i bottle chrome yellow, 2 
bottles chrome green. No. i, 2 bottles chrome green, No. 2, i bottle 
each of rose pink, royal purple, scarlet powder and balsam fir, 2 
dozen sheets white wax. This will do to begin with. Now have a 
clean tin dish, and pour therein a quart or two of water ; then put 
in about i lb. of the white wax, and let it boil. When cocl enough,, 
so the bubbles will not form on top, it is ready to sheet, which 
is done as follows: Take half of a window-pane, 7x9, and after 
having washed it clean, dip into a dish containing weak soap-suds; 
then dip into the wax, and draw out steadily, and plunge it into the 
suds, when the sheet will readily come off. Lay it on a cloth or 
clean paper to dry. Proceed in like manner until you have enough 
of the white; then add enough of the green powder to make a bright 
color, and heat and stir thoroughly until the color is evenly dis- 
tributed, then proceed as for sheeting white wax. The other colors, 
are rubbed into the leaves after they are cut out, rubbing light or 
heavy according to shade. 

For patterns you can use any natural leaf, forming the creases in 
wax with the thumb nail or needle. To put the flowers together, or 
the leaves on to the stem, hold in the hand until warm enough ta 
stick. If the sheeted wax is to be used in summer, put in a little 
balsam of fir to make it hard. If for winter, none will be required. 

You can make many flowers without a teacher, but one to assist 
in the commencement would be a great help, though the most 
particular thing about it is to get the wax sheeted. The materials 
I have suggested can be procured at any drug store, and will cost 
from $3.00 to $4.50. 

Arabian Horse Tamer's Secret. — Take oil of cummin^ 
oil of rhodium and horse castor. Keep separate in air-tight bottles. 
Rub a little of the oil of cummin on your hand and approach the 
horse on the windward side, so that he can smell the cummin. The 
horse will then let you come up to him without trouble. Rub your 
hand gently on the horse's nose, getting a little oil on it. He will 
then follow you. Give him a little of the castor on a piece of loaf 
sugar or apple ; get a few drops of the rhodium on his tongue, and 
he is your servant. He will follow you like a pet dog. 

Artificial Honey. — Take 8 lbs. of white sugar, add 2 quarts 
of water, boil four minutes, then add i lb. of bees' honey. Strain 
while hot. Flavor with a drop of tne oil of peppermint and a drop 
of the oil of rose. 

A Certain Cure for Drunkenness.— Sulphate of iron 

5 grains, magnesia 10 grains, peppermint water 11 drachms, spirits 
of nutmeg i drachm, twice a day. This preparation acts as a tonic 
and stimulant, and so partially supplies the place of the accustomed 
liquor, and prevents that absolute physical and moral prostration 
that follows a sudden breaking off from the use of stimulating 
drinks. 



14 THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 

To Neutralize Whiskey to Make Various Liquors. 

— To 40 gallons of whiskey add lyi lbs. unslacked lime, ^ lb. alum, 
and }i pint spirits of nitre. Stand twenty-four hours, and draw 
it off. 

Madeira Wine. — To 40 gallons prepared cider add X lb. 
tartaric acid, 4 gallons of spirits, 3 lbs. loaf sugar. Let it stand 10 
•days, draw it off carefully. Fine it down, and again rack it into 
another cask. 

Sherry Wine. — To 40 gallons prepared cider add 2 gallons 
spirits, 3 lbs. of raisins, 6 gallons good sherry and ]4, oz. oil of 
"bitter almonds dissolved in alcohol. Let it stand 10 days, and draw 
it off carefully. Fine it down, and again rack it into another cask. 

Court Plaster. — This plaster is merely a kind of varnished 
silk, and its manufacture is very easy. Bruise a sufficient quantity 
of isinglass, and let it soak in a little warm water for twenty-four 
hours. Expose it to heat over the fire until the greater part of the 
water is dissipated, and supply its place by proof spirits of wine, 
which will combine with the isinglass. Strain the whole through a 
piece of open linen, taking care that the consistence of the mixture 
shall be such that when cool it may form a trembling jelly. Extend 
a piece of black or flesh-colored silk on a wooden frame, and fix it 
in that position by means of tack or twine. Then apply the 
isinglass, after it has been rendered liquid by a gentle heat, to the 
silk with a brush of fine hair (badgers' is the best). As soon as this 
coating is dried, which will not be long, apply a second, and after- 
ward, if the article is to be very superior, a third. When the whole 
is dry, cover it with two or three coatings of the Balsam of Peru. 
This is the genuine court plaster. It is pliable, and never breaks, 
which is far from being the case with spurious articles sold under 
the same name. 

Port W^ine. — To 40 gallons prepared cider add 6 gallons good 
port wine, 10 quarts wild grapes, clusters, ^ lb. bruised rhatany 
root, 3 ozs. tincture of kino, 3 lbs. loaf sugar, 2 gallons spirits. Let 
this stand 10 days. Color, if too light, with tincture of rhatany, 
then rack it off, and fine it. This should be repeated until the color 
is perfect and the liquid clear. 

Oolcl Ink. — Honey and gold leaf equal parts, friturate until 
the gold is reduced to the finest possible state of division, agitate 
with 30 parts of hot water, and allow it to settle. Decant the water, 
and repeat the washing several times ; finally dry the gold and mix 
it with a little gum water for use. 

Silver Ink. — For silver ink the process is the same as gold, 
substituting silver leaf for the gold leaf. 

Ink for Marking- Packages.— Take lamp-black and mix 
thoroughly with sufficient turpentine to make it thin enough to flow 
from the brush. Powdered ultramarine, instead of lamp-black, 
makes a fine blue marking mixture for the same purpose. 



THE SILENT ASSISTANT. I5 

Shaving Soap.— Good white soap in fine shavings 3 lbs., 
balm soap i lb., soft water ^ oi a. lb., soda i oz. Melt carefully 
over a slow fire in an earthen vessel ; then add oil of lavender 60 
drops, oil of lemon 40 drops. Mix well nnd make into forms. 

Leather Cement. — Take gutta percha, cut in chloroform to 
right thickness for use, equal to Cook's best, for putting patches on 
leather, cloth shoes or boots. Well worth $100. 

Cleaning Compound. — Mix i oz. of borax and i oz. of gum 
camphor with i quart of boiling water. When cool add i pint of 
alcohol, bottle, and cork tightly. When wanted for use, shake well, 
and sponge the garments to be cleaned. This is an excellent mixture 
for cleaning soiled black cashmere and woolen dresses, coat collars 
and black felt hats. 

To Fasten Paper to Tin. — Take good, clear, pale yellow 
glue, break it into rather small pieces, and let it soak a few hours in 
cold water. Pour off the supernatant water, place the glue thus 
softened in a wide-mouthed bottle; add sufficient glacial acid to cover 
the glue, and facilitate the solution by standing the bottle in warm 
water. This acetic glue will stick almost anything. 

Furniture Polish. — Equal parts sweet oil and vinegar, and 
a pint of gum arable finely powdered. Shake the bottle, and apply 
the polish with a rag. It will make furniture look as good as new. 

Hunters' and Trappers* Secret. — Take equal parts of 
oil of rhodium, anise oil, sweet oil and honey, and mix well. Put a 
few drops on any kind of bait. For musk-rat use sweet apples or 
vegetables for bait. For mink use a chicken's head or a piece of 
fresh meat. 

Coug-h Syrup. — Put i quart of horehound to i quart of water, 
and boil it down to a pint ; add 2 or 3 sticks of licorice, and a table- 
spoonful of essence of lemon. Take a tablespoonful of the syrup 
three times a day, or as often as the cough may be troublesome. The 
above receipt has been sold for $100. Several firms are making much 
money by its manufacture. 

Fire Kindlers. — To make very nice fire kindlers, take resin, 
any quantity, and melt it, putting in for each pound being used, 2 or 3 
ozs. of tallow, and when all is hot, stir in pine sawdust to make very 
thick; and while yet hot, spread it out about one inch thick, upon 
boards which have fine sawdust sprinkled upon them, to prevent it 
from sticking. When cold, break up into lumps about an inch square. 
But if for sale, take a thin board and press upon it, while yet warm, to 
lay it off into inch squares. This makes it break regularly, if you 
press the crease sufficiently deep. Grease the marked board to pre- 
vent it from sticking. 

Paradise Liniment. — Take i gill of alchol, X oz. tincture 
capsicum, }4 oz. paradise seed, cracked, and put all together. For 
rheumatism, sprains, lameness, etc. 



1 6 THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 

Frencll liUStral. — Take castor oil, 3 ozs., alcohol 2j^ ozs., 
ammonia, 1-16 of an oz., well shaken and mixed together; perfume 
to suit. Bergamot, or any other perfume. Splendid hair dressing. 
3 oz. bottles, 25 cents. 

IjUng" Medicine. — Take black cohosh ^ oz., lobelia ]4- oz., 
canker root 3^ of an oz., blackberry root y^ of an oz., sarsaparilla 
I oz., pleurisy root ^ of an oz., steeped in 3 pints of water. Dose, 

1 tablespoonful 3 times a day, before eating. Sure cure for spitting 
blood. 

Ked Sealing" Wax. — Purchase 4 lbs. shellac, \}4, lbs, Venier 
turpentine, 3 lbs. finest cinnabar, and add 4 ozs. Venetian; mix the 
whole well together, and melt over a very slow fire. Pour it on a 
thick, smooth glass, or any other flat, smooth surface, and make it 
into 3, 6, or ID cent sticks. 

Black Sealing? Wax. — Purchase the best black resin, 3 lbs., 
beeswax ^ lb., and finely powdered ivory black i lb. Melt the 
whole together over a slow fire, and make it into sticks. 

Cement for Ijeather. — Virgin india rubber disolved in bisul- 
phide of carbon. Add bisulphide until of proper consistency to 
apply. After applying hold a moderately warm iron over the patch. 

I Aromatic Schiedam Schnapps, to imitate. — To 25 gal- 
lons good common gin, 5 over proof, add 15 pints strained honey, 

2 gallons clear water, 5 pints of white sugar syrup, 5 pints spirit 
of nutmeg, mixed with nitric ether, 5 pints orange flower water, 
7 quarts pure water, i oz. acetic ether, 8 drops oil of wintergreen dis- 
solved with the acetic ether. Mix all the ingredients well; if neces- 
sary, fine with alum and salt of tartar. 

St. Croix Rvim. — To 40 gallons p. or n. spirits, add 2 gallons 
St. Croix rum, 2 ozs. acetic acid, i^ oz. butyric acid, 3 lbs. loaf sugar. 

Irish or Scotch Whiskey. — To 40 gallons proof spirits, 
add 60 drops of creosote dissolved in one quart of alcohol, 2 ozs. 
acetic acid, i lb. loaf sugar. Stand 48 hours. 

French Brandy. — Pure spirits i gallon, best French brandy, 
or any kind you wish to imitate, i quart, loaf sugar 2 ozs., sweer spir- 
its of nitre ]4. oz-> a few drops of tincture of catechu, or oak bark, to 
roughen the taste, if desired, and color to suit. 

Champag"ne Cider. — Good cider, pale, i hogshead, spirits, 

3 gallons, honey or sugar, 20 lbs. Mix and let them rest for two 
weeks; then fine with skimmed milk, ^ gallon. This will be very 
pale; and a similar article, when bottled in champagne bottles and 
silvered and labeled, has been often sold to the ignorant for cham- 
pagne. 

Cider without Apples. — To i gallon of cold water add 
dark brown sugar i lb. Tartaric acid ^ ounce, yeast 3 tablespoonfuls. 
Shake well together. 



THE SILENT ASSISTANT. I/ 

Ellglisll Gill. — Plain malt spirits loo gallons, spirits of tur- 
pentine I pint, bay salt 7 lbs. Mix and distil. The difference in 
the flavor of gin is produced by varying the proportion of turpentine, 
and by occasionally adding a small quantity of juniper berries. 

Imitation Silver. — Eleven ozs. refined nickel, 2 ozs. metallic 
bismuth. Melt the composition three times, and pour them out in 
ley. The third time, when melting, add 2 ozs. of .pure silver. 

Iniitation Oolcl. — Four ozs. of platina, 3 ozs. of silver, i oz» 
of copper. 

Oroide Gold. — The best article is made by compounding 4 
parts pure copper, i3/^ parts pure zinc, ]^ part magnesia, i-io part 
sal-ammoniac, 1-12 part quick-lime, and i part cream tartar. Melt 
the copper first, then add as rapidly as possible the other articles in 
the order named. 

How to Increase the Weight of Gold. — Take your 

bar of gold and rub it long and carefully with thin silver, until the 
gold absorbs the quantity of silver that you require. Then prepare 
a strong solution of brimstone and quicklime. Now put the gold 
into a vessel with a wide mouth. Now let them boil till the gold 
attain the right color, and you have it, but do not use this knowledge- 
for an ill purpose. 

To Take Fac-siniiles of Signatures.— Write your name 
on a piece of paper, and while the ink is wet, sprinkle over it some 
finely powdered gum arable, then make a rim around it, and pour on 
it some fusible alloy in a liquid state. Impressions may be taken 
from the plates, formed in this way, by means of printing-ink and the 
copperplate-press. 

Magnetic Toothache Drops. — Take equal parts of cam- 
phor, sulphuric ether, ammonia, laudanum, tincture of cayenne, and 
yi part oil of cloves. Mix well together. Saturate with the liquid 
a small piece of cotton, and apply to the cavity of the diseased 
tooth, and the pain will cease immediately. Put up in long drachm 
bottles. Retail at 25 cents. This is a very saleable preparation, and 
affords a large profit to the manufacturer. 

Cologne. — Take i gallon 95 per cent, alcohol or cologne spirits, 
2 ozs. oil of bergamot, j^, oz. of orange, j/z oz. oil of cedar, ^ 
drachm oil Nevoi, ^ drachm oil rosemary. Mix well, and it is fit 
for use. A nice article. 

New York Barbers' Star Hair Oil.— Castor oil 6j^ 
pints, alcohol i}i pints, oil of citronella ^ oz., lavender ]^ oz. Mix 
well, put up in four-ounce bottles, retail for 25 cents. 

Chemical Compound. — Aqua-ammonia 2 ozs., soft water 
I quart, saltpetre i teaspoonful, shaving soap in shavings i oz. Mix 
all together. Dissolve the soap well, and any grease or dirt that 
cannot be removed with this preparation, nothing else need be tried 
for it. 



l8 THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 

Oreen Mountain Salve.— Take i lb. beeswax, i lb. of soft 
butter, and 1% lbs. soft turpentine, 12 ozs. balsam fir. Melt and 
strain. Used to heal fresh wounds, burns, scalds and all bad sores. 

Distilling^ Whiskey from Molasses.— Take 5 gallons of 
molasses, mix thoroughly with 25 gallons soft water in a barrel. 
Stir in yi gallon brewers' yeast ; let it set from 5 to 7 days in a warm 
place, say 70 degrees. During this time fermentation will proceed, 
which is known by a bubbling sensation. When this subsides, it is 
ready for distilling. To distil, use a common washing boiler, with 
the top well closed, and a hole in the same, or thimble soldered on, 
for the steam to pass through a pipe. Connect a tin pipe, say 
2 inches in diameter and 10 feet long, with a short elbow end to the 
boiler; let the other end incline downward. Fill the boiler one-half 
full of the fermented wort, boil slowly and regularly until there is 
no taste of spirits left. The atmosphere condenses the steam. In 
this case, if it should not entirely condense it, lengthen or enlarge 
the pipe. The liquid thus obtained is low wines, and to use the 
same process of running it, proof spirits can be obtained. To 
continue this daily, any giVen amount of molasses, etc., can be mixed, 
say one barrel each day. Five quarts can be obtained from 4 quarts 
of common molasses. • 

Indelible Marking- Ink without a Preparation.— 

Dissolve separately i oz. of nitrate of silver, and i^ ozs. of sub- 
carbonate of soda (best washing soda) in rain water. Mix the 
solutions, and collect and wash the precipitate in a filter; while still 
moist, rub it up in a marble or hardwood mortar with 3 drachms of 
tartaric acid, add 2 ozs. of rain water, mix 6 drachms white sugar and 
10 drachms of powdered gum arable, }i oz. of archil and water to 
make up 6 ozs. in measure. It should be put up in short drachm 
bottles, and sold at 25 cents. This is the best ink for marking 
clothes that has ever been discovered. There is a fortune in this 
receipt, as a good marking ink is very saleable. 

How to Eat Fire. — Anoint your tongue with liquid storax, 
and you may put hot iron or fire coals into your mouth, and without 
burning you. This is a very dangerous trick to be done, and those 
who practice it ought to use all means they can to prevent danger. 
"We never saw one of those fire-eaters that had a good complexion. 

Condition Pow'ders. — Take antimony crude I ounce; lo- 
belia gr. I ounce ; ginger 2 ounces ; sulphur flour 3 ounces ; bayberry 
gr. I ounce ; cream tartar 4 ounces ; saltpetre flour 4 ounces ; well 
mixed. Dose, one tablespoonful each day in wet feed. Best in mar- 
ket j will sell well. 

French Furniture Polish.— Alcohol 98 per cent, i pint, 
gum copal and shellac of each i oz., dragon's blood. Mix, and 
dissolve by setting in a warm place. 

Ink Powder. — Powdered nut galls 4 ozs., copperas 3 ozs., 
logwood I oz., gum arable }i oz. Sufficient for one quart of water. 



THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 



19 



Florida Water. — Dissolve in Yz gallon 90 per cent, alcohol, 

1 ounce each oil of lavender, oil of bergomot, and oil of lemon, and 
oil of cloves and cinnamon i drachm each. Add one gallon of 
water and filter. 

To Make Eg"g"s of Pharaoh's Serpents.— Take mercury 
and dissolve it in moderately diluted nitric acid by means of heat, 
taking care, however, that there be always an excess of metallic 
mercury remaining. Decant the solution, and pour it into a solution 
of sulphocyanide of ammonia or potassium, which may be bought 
at a good drug store or of a dealer in chemicals. Equal weights 
of botli will answer. A precipitate will fall to the bottom of the 
beaker or jar, which is to be collected on a filter, and washed two 
or three times with water, when it is put in a warm place to dry. 
Take for every pound of this material one ounce of gum tragacanth, 
which has been soaked in hot water. When the gum is completely 
softened, it is to be transferred to a mortar, and the pulverized and 
dried precipitate gradually mixed with it, by means of a little water, 
so as to present a somewhat dry pill mass, from which by hand 
pellets of the desired size are formed, put on a piece of glass, and 
dried again. They are then ready for use. 

Bristol's Tooth Powder.— Prepared chalk I lb., castile 
soap Yz lb., powdered yellow bark 2 ozs., powdered gum myrrh 

2 ozs., powdered loaf sugar 2 ozs., powdered orris 2 ozs. Mix 
intimately, having first pulverized the castile soap. 

Boot and Shoe Blacking-. — Ivory black i lb., molasses 
2 ozs., olive oil 4 ozs., oil of vitrol 4 ozs., alcohol 8 ozs., rye flour 
I lb. Mix them together in a kettle. 

Anglers' Secret, ISTo. 1. — Mix the juice of lovage or smell- 
age with any kind of bait. 

No. 2» — Mullein seed pulverized and mixed with dough, and 
sprinkled on the surface of still water, ifitoxicates the fish, and 
makes them turn up on the top of the water. 

Bay Rum, Equal to the Best Imported.— Oil of bay, 
fine, xYz drachms, oil of neroli (bigard) 10 drops, ether acetic 2 
drachms, alcohol deod. (strong) 3 pints, water 2^ pints, caromel 
sufficient to tinge. Let it stand two weeks and filter. 

Commercial Writing Ink. — Galls i oz., gum Y2. oz., 
cloves Y 02-» sulphate of iron Y o^., water 8 ozs. Digest by 
frequent shaking till it has sufficient color. This is a good durable 
ink and will bear diluting. 

Celebrated Moth and Freckle Lotion.— For the skin 
and complexion ; a great secret. Distil two handfuls jessamine 
flowers in a quart of rose water and a quart of orange water. 
Strain through porous paper and add a scruple of musk and a 
scruple of ambergris. Bottle and label. Splendid wash for the 
skin. 



20 THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 

Imperial Onffuent for Forcing" Whiskers and 

Moustache to G-row. — Made as follows : 2 drachms of ben- 
zoin comp., 2 drachms tincture of cantharides, 6 ozs. castor oil, g}^ 
ozs. alcohol, I drachm oil bergamot. Mix well, bottle and label. 
Apply the onguent night and morning. Circulation should be 
stimulated with a rough towel. 

Curloline, for Making the Hair Curl.— One lb. olive 
oil, I drachm oil of origanum, i}4 drachms oil rosemary. Mix well, 
bottle and label. Apply two or three times weekly. Will curl the 
straightest hair if not cut too short. 

Hair Restorative and Invigorator.— For a trifling cost. 
Sugar of lead, borax and lac sulphur of each i oz., aqua-ammonia 
^ oz., alcohol I gill, mix and let stand for 14 hours; then add bay 
rum I gill, fine table salt i tablespoon, soft water 3 pints, essence of 
bergamot i oz. This preparation not only gives a beautiful gloss, 
but will cause hair to grow upon bald heads arising from all common 
causes, and turning gray hair to a dark color. 

Manner of Application. — When the hair is thin or bald, make 
two applications daily, until this amount is used up. Work it into 
the roots of the hair with a soft brush or the ends of the fingers, 
rubbing well each time. For gray hair one application daily is 
sufficient. 

Royal Washing Powder. — Mix any quantity of soda ash 
with an equal portion of carbonate of soda — ordinary soda — 
crushed into coarse grains. Have a thin solution of glue or decoc- 
tion of linseed oil ready, into which pour the soda until quite thick. 
Spread it out on boards in a warm apartment to dry. As soon as 
dry, shake up well, so that it will pack easily into nice square 
packages. Label neatly. Pound packages cost 7 cents; retail for 
35 cents. 

Egyptian Cement. — For mending china, glass or wooden 
ware: Take i lb. of the best white glue, ^ lb. dry white lead, 
I quart soft water, Y^ pint alcohol. Put the three first articles in a 
dish, and that dish in a pot of boiling water. Let it boil until 
dissolved, then add the alcohol, and boil again until mixed. A little 
camphor should be added, to preserve it and disguise its composition. 
Put in small bottles ; 2 5 cents each. 

Traveller's Ink. — White blotting paper is saturated with ani- 
line black, and several sheets are pasted together, so as to form a 
thick pad. When required for use a small piece is torn off and 
covered with a little water. The black liquid which dissolves out is 
a good writing ink. A square inch of paper will produce enough ink 
to last for a considerable writing, and a few pads would be all that an 
exploring party need carry with them. As water is always available 
the ink is readily made. This is a perfectly original and new receipt. 
Any enterprising man can make a large income out of its manufac- 
ture. 



THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 2r 

" Handy " Water Pens. — Take best quality of voilet 
aniline, reduce to a thick paste with water; then- add mucilage and 
mix thoroughly. Apply the paste thus made to the pen, and let 
it dry twelve hours. Any steel pen may be prepared in this way. 
We always keep on stock the best violet aniline, also a large stock 
of pens. (See price list). 

Artificial Oysters. — Grate green corn in a dish; to i pint of 
this add i egg well beaten, small teacup of flour, half a cup of butter, 
salt and pepper; mix well together, and fry them brown. 

To Remove Grease or Stains from Clothing. — Ordi- 
nary benzine ii as good a grease eradicator as is now used. Put up 
in four oz. bottles and label it "The Nation's Grease Extractor," and 
sell for 20 or 25 cents. Benzine generally costs about 15 cents a gal- 
lon. Dip the corks in wax. 

Jockey Tricks. — How to make a Jiorse appear as though he was 
badly foundered . — Take a fine wire and fasten it tightly around the 
fetlock, between the foot and the heel, and smooth the hair over it. 
In twenty minutes the horse will show lameness. Do not leave it on 
over nine hours. To make a horse hune. — Take a single hair from its 
tail, put it through the eye of a needle, then lift the front leg and 
press the skin between the outer and middle tendon or cord, and 
shove the needle through, cut off the hair each side and let the foot 
down. The horse will go lame in twenty minutes. Hoiv to make a 
horse stand by his food and not take it. — Grease the front teeth and the 
roof of the mouth with common beef tallow, and he will not eat until 
you wash it out. This in conjunction with the above will consummate 
a complete founder. How to cure a horse from the crib or sucking zvind. 
— Saw between the upper teeth to the gums. Hoxv to put a young 
countenance on a horse. — Make a small incision in the sunken place 
over the eye, insert the point of a goose quill and blow it up; close 
the external wound with a thread and it is done. To coz'cr 7ip the 
heaves. — Drench the horse with % lb. of common bird shot, and he 
will not heave until they pass through him. To make ahorse appear as 
if he had the glanders. — 'b>lt\t 4 ozs. of fresh butter and pour into his 
ear. To distinguish between distemper and glanders. — The discharge 
from the nose in glanders will sink in water; in distemper it floats. 
How to make a true pulling horse balk. — Take tincture of cantharides 
I oz., and corrosive sublimate i drachm ; Mix and bathe his shoulder 
at night Horv to nerve ahorse that is lame. — Make a small incision 
about half way from the knee to the joint on the outside of the leg, 
and at the back part of the shin bone you wd!l find a small, white ten- 
don or cord; cut it off and close the external wound with a stitch, and 
he will walk off on the hardest pavement and not limp a particle. 

Paste that Avill not Sour. — Dissolve yi an oz. of alum in 
a pint of boiling water, add an equal weight of flour, made smooth in 
a little cold water, and a few drops of oil of cloves, and let the whole 
come to a boil. Put it into glass or ointment jars. It will keep for 
months. 



22 THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 

Tinctures are made with one oz. of gum, root, or bark, etc., 
dried, to each pint of proof spirits, and let it stand one week and 
filter. 

Essences are made with i oz. of any given oil added to i pint 
of alcohol. Peppermint is colored with tincture turmeric, cinnamon 
with tincture red saunders, wintergreen with tincture kino. 

A Sure Cure for Small Pox. — A gentleman contributes 
to the Chicago News the following as a sure and never failing cure for 
small pox: i oz. of cream of tartar dissolved in a pint of boiling 
water, to be drank when cold, at intervals. It can be taken at any- 
time, and as a preventative as well as a curative. It is known to have 
cured in thousands of cases without a failure. 

Oleomargarine Manufacture. — The process by which 
suet is converted into the substance called oleomargarine is as follows : 
The crude suet, after first being washed in cold water, is "rendered," 
melted, and then drawn off into movable tanks. The hard substance 
is subjected to a hydraulic pressure of 350 tons, and the oil ex- 
tracted. The butter is made from the oil thus obtained, while the 
hard substance remaining is disposed of as stearine. The oil, being 
carried off into churns, is mixed with milk and from 3 to 5 per cent, 
of dairy butter. It is then drawn off into a consistent form, and 
cooled with broken ice. The latter is soon removed, and the butter 
worked up with a small portion of salt. When this is done, the 
article is ready for packing and consumption. 

Mucilag"e for LiabelS. — Dexterine 2 ozs., glycerine i drachm, 
alcohol I oz., water 6 ozs. 

Common Twist Candy. — Boil 3 lbs. of common sugar and 
I pint of water over a slow fire for half an hour, without skimming. 
When boiled enough, take it off; rub your hands over with butter; 
take that which is a little cooled, and pull it as you would molasses 
candy until it is white ; then twist or braid it, and cut it up in strips. 

Fine Peppermint Lozeng'es. — Best powdered white sugar 
7 lbs., pure starch i lb., oil of peppermint to flavor. Mix with muci- 
lage. 

Molasses Candy. — Boil molasses over a moderately hot fire, 
stirring constantlv. When you think it is done, drop a little on a 
plate, and if sufficiently boiled it will be hard. Add a small quantity 
of vinegar to render it brittle, and any flavoring ingredient you prefer. 
Pour in buttered tin pans. If nuts are to be added, strew them in 
the pans before pouring out the candy. 

Fig" Candy. — Take i lb. of sugar and i pint of water, set over 
a slow fire. When done add a few drops of vinegar and a lump of 
butter, and pour into pans into which split figs are laid. 

Raisin Candy. — Can be made in the same manner, substi- 
tuting stoned raisins for the figs. Common molasses candy is very- 
nice with all kinds of nuts added. 



THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 2^ 

Peppermint, Rose or Hoar hound Candy. — They may 

be made as lemon candy. Flavor with essence of rose or pepper- 
mint, or finely powdered hoarhound. Pour it out in a buttered paper, 
placed in a square tin pan. 

Black Ink. — Shellac 4 ozs., borax 2 ozs., water i quart ; boil 
till dissolved, and add 2 ozs. gum arable dissolved in a little hot 
water; boil and add enough of a well triturated mixture of equal parts 
of indigo and lamp-black to produce a proper color ; after standing 
several hours draw off and bottle. 

Green Ink. — Dissolve 180 grains birchromate of potassa in 
I fluid oz. of water, add while warm ^4 oz. spirit of wine, then decom- 
pose the mixture with concentrated sulphuric acid until it assumes a 
brown color; evaporate this liquid until its quantity is reduced one 
half, dilute it with 2 ozs. distilled water, filter it, add }4 oz- alcohol, 
followed by a few drops of strong sulphuric acid; it is now allowed 
to rest, and after a time it assumes a beautiful green color. Add a 
small quantity of gum arable and it is ready for use. 

Beautiful Blue Writing- Fluid. — Dissolve basic or sol- 
uble Prussian blue in pure water. This is the most permanent and 
beautiful blue ink known. 

Violet Copying" Ink. — For blue violet, dissolve in 300 parts 
of boiling water, methyl violet 5B, Hofman's violet, 3B, or gentiana vio- 
let, B. For reddish violet, dissolve in a similar quantity of water, 
methyl-violet BR. A small quantity of sugar added to these inks 
improves their copying qualities. If the writing, when dry, retains a 
bronzy appearance,' more water must be added. 

To Make a Clock for 25 Cents.— First you get a sheet of 
stout mill-board, such as is used by bookbinders. This will cost you 
from six to ten cents. Get size twenty-seven by twenty-two inches. 
Draw two lines the longest way equally distant from the edge and 
each other. This divides it into three parts of the same size. Now 
from the top measure off ten inches for the face, and then with your 
knife partly cut the board through the rest of the lines below 
the face, and bend them back, and glue together by putting a strip 
of cloth over the edges where they meet. Mark out the face of 
your clock, and make a hole for the hands. Go to your tinman, 
and he will make you a funnel-shaped spout, which you must 
glue on the bottom. Then make a spool like a cone — running 
to a point on one end — and eight inches across on the other. 
Wind a string on this cone, commencing at the large end, and 
winding down just as you would a top. Tie to the end a conical 
ink bottle filled with sand. Make some wooden hands, and put 
them on the face. Then fill your box, now made, with sand, and 
when it is hung up, the sand will run out slowly at the bottom, and 
as the sand goes out the weights lower, and turn the wheel, which 
makes the hands go around. It will depend upon the size of the 
hole at the bottom as to how fast it runs. You can paint it, and 
make it quite an ornament and curiosity in your house. 



24 



THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 



Brilliant Reel Ink. — Brazil wood 2 ozs., muriate of tin 
y^ drachm, gum arable i drachm ; boil down in 32 ozs. water to one 
half, and strain. 

Buchner's Carmine Ink. — Pure carmine 12 grains, water 
of ammonia 3 ozs., dissolve, then add powdered gum 18 grains; 
y^ drachm of powdered drop lake may be substituted for the carmine 
where expense is an object. 

White Ink. — Mix pure freshly precipitated barium sulphate, 
or "flake white," with water containing enough gum arabic to prevent 
the immediate settling of the substance. Starch or magnesium car- 
bonate may be used in a similar way. They must be reduced to 
impalpable powders. 

Indelible Ink for Marking" Linen. — Add caustic alkali 
to a saturated solution of cuprous chloride until no further precipitate 
forms; allow the precipitate to settle, draw off the supernatant liquid 
with a siphon and dissolve the hydrated copper oxide in the smallest 
quantity of ammonia. It may be mixed with about 6 per cent, of 
gum dexterine for use. 

Plain Court Plaster that will not stick and remains flexible : 
Soak isinglass in a little warm water for twenty-four hours, then 
evaporate nearly all the water by a gentle heat. Dissolve the 
residue in a little proof spirits of wine, and strain the whole through 
a piece of open linen. The strained mass should be a stiff jelly 
when cool. Stitch a piece of silk or sarcenet on a wooden frame 
with tacks or thread. Melt the jelly and apply it to the silk thinly 
and evenly with a badger hair brush. A second coating must 
be applied when the first has dried. When both are dry, apply 
over the whole surface two or three coatings of balsam of Peru. 
This plaster remains quite pliable, and never breaks. 

New Invisible Ink. — C. Wideman communicates a new 
method of making an invisible ink to Die Natiir. To make the 
writing or drawing appear which has been made upon paper with 
the ink, it is sufficient to dip it into water. On drying, the traces 
disappear again, and reappear at each succeeding immersion. The 
ink is made by intimately mixing linseed oil i part, water of 
ammonia 20 parts, water 100 parts. The mixture must be agitated 
each time before the pen is dipped into it, as a little of the oil may 
separate and float on top, which would, of course, leave an oily 
stain upon the paper. 

To Bore Holes in Glass. — Any hard steel tool will cut 
glass with great facility when kept freely wet with camphor dissolved 
in turpentine. A drill-bow may be used, or even the hand alone. 
A hole bored may be readily enlarged by a round file. The ragged 
edges of glass vessels may also be thus easily smoothed by a 
flat file. Flat window glass can readily be sawed by a watch spring 
saw by aid of this solution. In short, the most brittle glass can be 
wrought almost as easily as brass by the use of cutting tools kept 
constantly moist with camphorized oil of turpentine. 



THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 25 

To Etch Upon Glass. — Procure several thick, clear pieces 
■of crown glass, and immerse them in melted wax, so that each may 
receive a complete coating, or pour over them a solution of wax in 
benzine. When perfectly cold, draw on them, with a fine steel 
point, flowers, trees, houses, portraits, etc. Whatever parts of the 
drawings are intended to be corroded with the acid should be 
perfectly free from the least particle of wax. When all these 
drawings are finished, the pieces of glass must be immersed one 
by one in a square leaden box or receiver, where they are to 
be submitted to the action of hydroflouric acid gas, made by acting 
on powdered fluor-spar by concentrated sulphuric acid. When the 
glasses are sufticiently corroded, they are to be taken out, and 
the wax is to be removed by first dipping them in warm and then 
in hot water, or by washing with turpentine or benzine. Various 
colors may be applied to the corroded parts of the glass, whereby 
a fine painting may be executed. In the same manner sentences 
and initials of names may be etched on wine-glasses tumblers, etc. 

Rubber Hand Stamps. — Set up the desired name and 
address in common type, oil the type, and place a guard about 
Yz inch high around the form. Now mix plaster of Paris to the 
desired consistency, pour in and allow it to set. Have your vul- 
canized rubber all ready, as made in long strips 3 inches wide and 
y% of an inch thick, cut off the size of the intended stamp. Remove 
the plaster cast from the type, and place both the cast and the 
rubber in a screw press, applying sufficient heat to thoroughly 
soften the rubber, then turn down the screw hard, and let it remain 
until the rubber receives the exact impression of the cast and 
becomes cold, when it is removed, neatly trimmed with a sharp 
knife, and cemented to the handle, ready for use. 

Sticky Fly-Pa per. — Boiled linseed oil and resin; melt and 
add honey. Soak the paper in a strong solution of alum, then dry 
before applying the above. 

Silver Plating- Fluid. — Take i oz. of precipitate silver to 
Yz oz. of cyanite of potash and Y oz, of hyposulphate of soda. 
Put all in a quart of water, add a little whiting, and shake before 
using. Apply with a soft rag. Put up in ounce bottles, and retails 
at 25 cents. This secret is worth $100 to an agent to sell to families. 

How to Fasten Rubber to Wood and Metal. — As 

rubber plates and rings are now-a-days used almost exclusively for 
making connections between steam and other pipes and apparatus, 
much annoyance is often experienced b}' the impossibility or imper- 
fection of an air-tight connection. This is obviated entirely by em- 
ploying a cement which fastens alike well to the rubber and to the 
metal 01 wood. Such cement is prepared by a solution of shellac in 
ammonia. This is best made by soaking pulverized gum shellac in 
ten times its weight of strong ammonia, when a slimy mass is obtained, 
which in three to four weeks will become liquid without the use of 
hot water. This softens the rubber, and becomes, after volatilization 
of the ammonia, hard and impermeable to gases and fluids. 



26 THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 

To Transfer Printed Matter, and Print from it 
ag'ain. — Take your picture or print and soak it for a short time in 
a weak solution of caustic potash, then remove it carefully, and let 
it dry on a sheet of clean paper. Now take a piece of copper, zinc, 
or steel, which has previously been well cleaned, and dip it into hot 
white wax. Let the first coat set, then dip again. Having got the 
plate thoroughly coated and set, lay the matter to be transferred 
on the plate, and rub it gently all over on the back; now raise it up, 
and it will be transferred on to the wax on the plate. Now take 
needles of a different thickness, and scrawl all over the wax, follow- 
ing the lines of the engraving. Having got the picture all traced 
out, pour upon it some weak acid if you use zinc, which is too soft 
to print many from, therefore it is better to use copper or steel. If 
you use copper make the following solution to pour over it : Verdi- 
gris 4 parts, salt 4 parts, sal ammoniac 4 parts, alum i part, water 
16 parts, strong vinegar I2 parts. Dissolve by heat. For steel, use 
pyroligneous acid 5 parts, alcohol i part, nitric acid i part. Mix 
the first two, then add the nitric acid. Pouring the preparations 
over the plates where the traces of the picture are, it will eat into 
the metal plate without affecting the wax. Let it stand till it has 
eaten a sufficient depth, then wash the plate in cold water, dry 
it, and place it near the fire till all the wax is melted off. You 
can now print as many as you please from the plate by rubbing on 
it printers' ink, so as to fill all the fine spaces ; which, when done, 
wupe it over smoothly with clean cloths to remove the superfluous 
ink which is on the face of the plate. Now take damp paper 
or card board, and press it on the plate, either with a coyping press 
or the hand, and you get a fine impession, or as many as you want 
by repeating the inking process. I would recommend beginners to 
try their skill with valueless prints before attempting to make 
transfers of fine engravings, as the picture to be transferred is 
destroyed by the process. 

Ijiquid Glue. — To i oz. of borax in i pint of boiling water, 
add 2 ozs. of shellac, and boil until the shellac is dissolved. 

I. X. li. Balving" Powder. — Receipt. Take i \h. tartaj-ic 
acid in crystals, iJS^ lbs. bi-carbonate of soda, and 1%. lbs. of potato 
starch. Each must be powdered separately, well dried by a slow 
heat, well mixed through a sieve. Pack hard in tinfoil, tin or paper 
glazed on the outside. The tartaric acid and bi-carbonate of soda 
can of course be bought cheaper of wholesale druggists than you 
can make them unless you are doing things on a very large scale, 
but potato starch any one can make. It is only necessary to peel 
the potatoes, and to grate them up fine into vessels of water, 
to let them settle, pour off the water, and make the settlings in 
balls, and to dry them. With these directions any one can make as 
good a baking powder as is sold anywhere. If he wants to make 
it very cheap, he can take cream of tartar and common washing 
(carbonate) soda, instead of the articles named in the receipt, but 
this would be advisable only where customers insist on excessively 
low prices in preference to quality of goods. 



THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 2/ 

To Write Secret Letters.— Put five cents' worth citrate 
of potassa in an ounce vial of clear cold water. This forms an 
invisible fluid. Let it dissolve, and you can use on paper of any- 
color. Use goose-quill in writing. When you wish the writing tO' 
become visible, hold it to a red-hot stove. 

Copying Pad.— White gelatine 4 ozs., water 8 ozs., glycerine 
8 ozs., gum dexterine 2 ozs. Always use these same proportions for 
any amount. Melt the gelatine in the water at a gentle heat^ 
add to it the glycerine, in which the gum dexterine has been 
thoroughly incorporated. Now stir all together, until thoroughly 
mixed, and then pour into pans of the desired size, to the depth of 
Yz inch. . . . , . 

Receipt for Ink to Be Used— Violet aniline 40 grains, gum arable 
12 grains, alcohol ]i oz., water Y^ oz. Dissolve the gum in the 
water and alcohol, then add the aniline. Shake in a bottle from 
time to time, until the aniline is dissolved. To -work the Copying 
/Vz^j._ Write with the ink on any good paper, press the written 
surface on the pad, and allow it to remain two minutes ; then take 
off, and the writing will remain, from which impressions may be 
taken by laying plain paper, and smoothing with the hand. As soon 
as the last impression is taken, be sure and wash off with a wet 
sponge. 

Everlastingr Fence Posts.— I discovered many years ago 
that wood could be made to last longer than iron in the ground, but 
thought the process so simple and inexpensive that it was not worth 
while to make any stir about it. I would as soon have poplar, bass- 
wood, or quaking ash as any other kind of timber for fence posts. I 
have taken out basswood posts after having been set seven years^ 
which were as sound when taken out as when they were first put in 
the ground. Time and weather seem to have no effect on them. The 
posts can be prepared for less than two cents apiece. This is the 
receipt: Take boiled linseed oil and stir it in pulverized charcoal to- 
the consistency of paint. Put a coat of this over the timber, and 
there is not a man that will live to see it rotten. 

How to Test the Richness of Milk. — Procure any 
long glass vessel — a cologne bottle or long phial. Take a narrow 
strip of paper, just the length from the neck to the bottom of the 
phial, and mark it off with 100 lines at equal distances, or into 
CO lines, and count each as two, and paste upon the phial, so as to> 
divide its length into 100 equal parts. Fill it to the highest mark 
with milk fresh from the cow, and allow it to stand in a perpendicular 
position 24 hours. The number of spaces occupied by the cream will 
give you its exact percentage in the milk without any guess work. 

Kiss Me Quick.— Spirits i gallon, essence of thyme X oz-r 
essence of orange flowers 2 ozs., essence neroh 14 oz., otto of roses 
^o drops, essence of jasmine i oz., essence of balm mint^ oz., petals 
of roses 4 ozs., oil lemon 20 drops, calorus aromaticus ^ oz., essence 
neroli % oz. ISIix and strain. 



28 THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 

To Mend Tinware by the Heat of a Canclle.— Take 

a vial about two-thirds full of muriatic acid and put into it little bits 
of sheet zinc as long as it dissolves them; then put in a crumb of sal 
ammoniac and fill up with water, and it is ready to use. Then, with 
the cork of the vial, wet the place to be mended with the preparation; 
then put a piece of zinc over the hole and hold a lighted candle or 
spirit lamp under the place, which melts the solder on the tin, and 
causes the zinc to adhere without further trouble. Wet the zinc also 
with the solution ; or a little solder may be put on instead of the zinc, 
or with the zinc. 

To Whiten and Soften the Hands. — Take y, lb. mut- 
toii tallow, I oz. camphor gum, i oz. glycerine; melt, and when thor- 
oughly mixed, set away to cool. Rub the hands with this every night. 

A Branding" Ink. — A waterproof branding ink, good for 
marking sheep : Shellac, 2 ozs., borax 2 ozs., water 24 ozs., gum 
arabic 2 ozs., lamp-black sufficient. Boil the borax and shellac in the 
water till they are dissolved, and withdraw from the fire. When the 
solution becomes cold, complete 25 ozs, with water and add lamp-black 
■enough to bring the preparation to a suitable consistency. When it is 
to be used with a stencil it must be made thicker than when it is 
applied with a brush. The above gives black ink. For red ink sub- 
stitute Venetian red for lamp-black, for blue, ultramarine, and for 
green, a mixture of ultramarine and chrome yellow. 

Balm of a Thousand Flowers. — Deodorized alcohol 
I pint, nice white bar soap 4 ozs., shave the soap when put in, stand 
in a warm place till dissolved ; then add oil of citronella i drachm, 
and oils of neroli and rosemary, of each ^ drachm. 

New York Barber's Star Hair Oil. — Castor oil 6>^ 
pints, alcohol i^ pints, citronella and lavender oil, each y^ oz. 

Barber's Shampooing" Mixture . — Soft water i pint, sal 
soda I oz., cream tartar Yt oz. Apply thoroughly to the hair. 

Frangipanni. — Spirits i gallon, oil bergamot i oz., oil of 
lemon i oz., macerate for 4 days, frequently shaking ; then add water 
I gallon, orange-flower water i pint, essence of vanilla 2 ozs. Mix. 

Jockey Club. — Spirits of wine 5 gallons, orange-flower water 
I gallon, balsam of Peru 4 ozs. essence of bergamot 8 ozs., essence 
of musk 8 ozs., essence of cloves 4 ozs., essence of neroli 2 ozs. 
Mix. 

Ladies' Own. — Spirits of wine I gallon, otto of roses 20 drops, 
essence of thyme ^ oz., essence of neroli ){ oz., essence of vanilla 
]/2 oz., essence of bergamot ]^ oz., orange-flower water 6 ozs. 

Upper Ten. — Spirits of wine 4 quarts, essence of cedrat 2 
drachms, essence of violets }i oz., essence of neroli }^ oz., otto of 
roses 20 drops, orange flower essence i oz., oil of rosemary 30 drops, 
oils of bergamot and neroli, each ^ oz. 



THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 29 

Warts and Corns. To Cure in Ten Minutes.— 

Take a small piece of potash and let it stand in the open air until it 
slacks, then thicken it to a paste with pulverized gum arable, which 
prevents it from spreading where it is not wanted. 

Liniment. Good Samaritan. — Take 98 per cent, alcohol 
2 quarts, and add to it the followiug articles : Oils of sassafras, hem- 
lock, spirits of turpentine, tincture of cayenne, catechu, guaiac, (guac) 
and laudanum, of each I oz., tincture of myrrh 4 ozs., oil of origanum 
2 ozs., oil of wintergreen Yz oz., gum camphor 2 ozs., and chloroform 
i^ ozs. This is one of the best applications for internal pains 
known. It is superior to any other enumerated in this work. 

Silvering- Powder. — Nitrate of silver and common salt, of 
each 30 grains, cream of tartar y/^ drachms. Pulverize finely, mix 
thoroughly, and bottle for use. Unequalled for polishing copper and 
plated goods. 

Tin Cans. — Size of Sheet for from I to lOO Gallons. 



25 gallons, 30 by 56 inches. 

40 " 36 by 63 " 

50 " 40 by 70 " 

75 " 40 by 84 " 

100 " 40 by 98 " 



For I gallon, 7 by 20 inches. 
3^ " 10 by 28 

5 '• 12 by 40 

6 " 14 by 40 
10 " 20 by 42 
15 " 30 by 42 

This includes all the laps, seams, etc., which will be found suffi- 
ciently correct for all practical purposes. 

Moul€ls and Dies. — Copper, zinc and silver in equal propor- 
tions, melt together under a coat of powdered charcoal, and mould 
into the form you desire. Bring them to nearly a white heat, and lay 
on the thing vou would take an impression of, press with sufficient 
force, and you will get a perfect and beautiful impression. 

Muriate of Tin. Tin Liquor.— If druggists keep it, it is 
best to purchase of them already made, but if you prefer, proceed 
as follows : Get at a tinner's shop block tin, put it into a shovel 
and melt it. After it is melted, pour it from the height of 4 or 5 feet 
into a pail of clear water. The object of this is to have the tin in 
small particles, so that the acid can dissolve it. Take it out of the 
water and dry it ; then put it into a strong glass bottle. Pour oyer 
it muriatic acid 12 ozs., then slowly add sulphuric acid 8 ozs. The 
acid should be added about a tablespoon at a time, at intervals.of 
5 or 8 minutes, for if you add it too rapidly you run the risk 
of breaking the bottle by heat. After you have all the acid in, 
let the bottle stand until the ebullition subsides; then stop it 
up with a beeswax or glass stopper, and set it away ; and it wilL 
keep good for a year or more, or it will be fit for use in 24 hours. 

Crucibles.— The best crucibles are made from a pure fire-clay, 
mixed with finely-ground cement of old crucibles, and a portion 
of black-lead or graphite ; some pounded coke may be mixed with 
the plumbago. The clay should be prepared in a similar way 



30 



THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 



as for making pottery-ware. The vessels, after being formed, must 
te slowly dried, and then properly baked in a kiln. 

Black-Lead C)'7ccibles are made of two parts graphite and i of 
iire-clay, mixed with water into a paste, pressed in moulds, and 
well dried, but not baked hard in the kiln. This compound forms 
excellent small or portable furnaces. 

French Polish or Dressing for Leather. — Mix 2 pints 
best vinegar with i pint soft water. Stir into it % lb. glue, broken 
up, ]4, lb. logwood-chips, X oz. of finely-powdered indigo, ^ oz. of the 
best soft-soap, % oz. of isinglass. Put the mixture over the fire, 
and let it boil ten minutes or more; then strain, bottle and cork. 
When cold, it is fit for use. Apply with a sponge. 

The Centennial Illuminating' Oil. — Receipt for Mak- 
ing ONE Gallon. — Take 7-8 gallon benzine or crude petroleum, add 
to it % oz. gum camphor, j/z oz. alcohol, % pint common salt, ^ oz. 
oil of sassafras. Stir and mix it well for about five minutes. Let 
it stand for 24 hours and it is ready for use. It is better to buy the 
benzine from Pittsburg, Pa., as the druggists usually charge two or 
three times the wholesale price. 



PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS, ETC. 

A Patent is a Protection given to secure the inventor 
in the profits arising from the manufacture and sale of an article of 
his own creation. 

What to Invent. — Cheap, useful articles that will sell at 
sight. Something that every one needs, and the poorest can afford. 
Invent simple things for the benefit of the masses, and your fortune 
is made. Some years back a one-armed soldier amassed a fortune 
from a simple toy — a wooden ball attached to a rubber string. 
They cost scarcely nothing, yet millions were sold at a good price. 
A German became enormously rich by patenting a simple wooden 
plug for beer barrels. " What man has done, man can do." 

How to Protect Your Invention. — Patent it. If you 

do not others will reap the benefits that rightfully belong to you. 

To Whom Letters Patent are Granted.— Section 

4886 of the Revised Statutes of the United States provides that : 
"Any person who has invented or discovered any new and useful art, 
machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or any new and use- 
ful improvement thereof, not known or used by others in this country, 
and not patented or described in any printed publication in this or any 
foreign country, before his invention or discovery thereof, and not in 
public use, or on sale for more than two years prior to his application, 
unless the same is proved to ha:ve been abandoned, may, upon the 
payment of the fees required by law, and other due proceedings had, 
obtain a patent therefor/' 



THE SILENT ASSISTANT. $1 

And section 4888 of the same Statutes enacts : 

'* Sec. 4888. Before any inventor or discoverer shall receive a 
patent for his invention or discovery, he shall make application there- 
for, in writing, to the Commissioner of Patents, and shall file in the 
Patent Office a written description of the same, and of the manner 
and process of making, constructing, compounding, and using it, in 
such full, clear, concise and exact terms, as to enable any person 
skilled in the art or science to which it appertains, or with which it is 
most nearly connected, to make, construct, compound, and use the 
same ; and in case of a machine, he shall explain the principle there- 
of, and the best mode in which he has contemplated applying that 
principle, so as to distinguish it from other inventions ; and he shall 
particularly point out and distinctly claim the part, improvement, or 
combination which he claims as his invention or discovery. The 
specification and claim shall be signed by the inventor, and attested 
by two witnesses." 

It is also required by law that when " The case admits of draw- 
ings," it shall be properly illustrated ; and also, if the Commissioner 
requires it, that a model shall be furnished in cases capable of such 
demonstration. . 

The cost of obtaining Letters Patent in ordmary cases is: First 
Government fee, $15; counsel fees, including drawings, $25 ; second, 
or final Government fee, to be paid within six months from date of 
allowance, $20; total, $60. 

Desi^'ns. — A design patent can be obtained for novelties in 
the shap^e or configuration of articles, or impressions by any means 
whatever. These patents are of great value to the trade. 

The government fees for a design patent are : — 
On filing every application for a design patent . . . $10.00 
On issuing a design patent for 2'A years no further charge. 

On issuing a design patent for 7 years 5.00 

On issuing a design patent for 14 years 20.00 

Caveats. — A caveat is a confidential communication filed in the 
Patent Office, and it consists of a specification, drawings, oath and 
petition. The specification must contain a clear description of the 
intended invention. 

How a Copyright is Secured. — The method by which a 
copyright is obtained under the revised acts of Congress is as simple 
and inexpensive as can be reasonably asked. All unnecessary red- 
tape is dispensed with, and the cost to the author who is seeking thus 
to protect himself in the enjoyment of the profits of his work, is so 
small as to be scarcely appreciable. This is an example of cheapness 
and directness towards which all branches of public administration 
should tend, if a government is to fulfill its proper mission of serving 
the people without needlessly taxing them. Directions have lately 
been issued for the guidance of persons wishing to obtain copyrights ; 
and as many of our readers may not be conversant with the subject, 
we give a brief abstract of the process. 



32 



THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 



The first thing necessary is to send a printed copy of the title o£ the 
work, plainly directed to " Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C." 
The copyright law applies not only to books, pamphlets and news- 
papers, but also to maps, charts, photographs, paintings, drawings, 
music, statuary, etc. If there is a title page, send that ; if not, a title 
must he printed expressly for the purpose, and in both cases the 
name of the author or claimant of copyright must accompany the 
title. Use no smaller paper than commercial note. 

A remittance of one dollar must be made along with the application. 
This is the whole charge — half of it being for the entry on the record, 
and the other half for your certificate, which the Librarian will send 
you promptly by mail. You will of course prepay your postage. 

Within ten days. after your book, or other article, is published, you 
are required to send two complete copies of the best edition to the 
Librarian, addressed as before, prepaying the postage; or the Librar- 
ian will furnish " penalty labels," under which they can be sent free 
of postage. If this deposit of copies is neglected, the copyright is 
void, and you are liable to a fine of $25. 

The law requires that on the title page of a copyrighted work, or 
some part of the drawing, painting, statue, or whatever it may be, 
there shall be printed these words: "Entered according to act of 

Congress, in the year , by , in the ofiice of the Librarian of 

Congress, at Washington; " or, if preferred, this briefer form may be 

used: " Copyright, 18 — , by ." To this may be added, " Right of 

translation reserved," or "All rights reserved;" but in that case the 
Librarian must have been duly notified, so that he may include it in 
the record. 

Any person who prints the copyright notice on his work without 
having obtained a copyright, is liable to a penalty of $100. The 
original term of a copyright runs for twenty-eight years, and it may 
then be renewed for a further term of fourteen years, either by the 
author or by his widow or children, application being made not less 
than six months before the expiration of th^e right. Trade marks and 
labels can not be copyrighted under this law, but are provided for by 
a separate act, relating to matters of detail, which can not here be 
recited, but in regard to which, the Librarian at Washington will give 
the needed information whenever required. 

Trade Marks, Labels, Prints, etc. — Copyrights cannot 
be granted upon trade marks, nor upon mere names of companies or 
articles, nor upon prints or labels intended to be used with any article 
of manufacture. If protection for such names or labels is desired, 
application must be made to the Patent Office, where they are regis- 
tered at a fee of $6 for labels, and $25 for trade marks. 

By the word "label" is meant a slip of paper, or other material, to 
be attached to manufactured articles, or to packages containing them, 
and bearing the name of the manufacturer, directions for use, etc. 

By the word "print," is meant any device, word, or figures (not a 
trade mark) impressed directly upon the article, to denote the name 
of the manufacturer, etc. 



THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 33 

CURIOUS INVENTIONS. 

Indestructible Lamp Wicks. — Steep common wicks in a 
concentrated aqueous solution of tungstate of soda, and then dry 
thoroughly in an oven. 

A Gold Plate for Small Articles, without a Bat- 
tery, — Digest a small fragment of gold with about ten times its 
weight of mercury until it is dissolved, shake the amalgam together in 
a bottle, and after cleansing the articles, coat them uniformly with the 
amalgam. Then expose them on an iron tray heated to low redness 
for a few minutes. The mercury volatilizes, leaving the gold attached 
as a thin coating to the article. The heating should be done in a 
stove, so that the poisonous mercurial fumes may pass up the chim- 
ney. 

A Gelatine Mould for Casting^ Plaster Ornaments. 
Allow 12 ozs. of gelatine to soak for a few hours in water, until it 
has absorbed as much as it can, then apply heat, by which it will 
liquefy, If the mould is required to be elastic, add 3 ozs. of treacle, 
and mix well with the gelatine. If a little chrome alum (precise pro- 
portions are immaterial) be added to the gelatine, it causes it to lose 
its property of being again dissolved in water. A saturated solution 
of bichromate of potash brushed over the surface of the mould, 
allowed to become dry and afterwards exposed to sunlight for a few 
minutes, renders the surface so hard as to be unaffected by moisture. 

To make Artificial Marble for Paper Weights or 
other Fancy Articles.— Soak plaster of Paris in a solution of 
alum, bake it in an oven, and then grind it to a powder. In using, mix 
it with water, and to produce the clouds and veins, stir in_ any dry 
color you wish ; this will become very hard, and is susceptible of a 
very high polish. 

Unshrinkable Patterns.— The best mixture for small pat- 
terns, that does not shrink in casting, is, 69 parts lead, 15^^ parts anti- 
mony, I5>^ parts of bismuth, by weight. A cheap kind for finished 
patterns can be made of 10 parts zinc, i part antimony, i part tin. 

Imitation of Ground Glass.— The following is from an Ant- 
werp scientific journal : Paint the glass with the following varnish: 
Sandarac 18 drachms, mastic 4 drachms, ether 24 ozs., benzine 6 to 
18 ozs. The more benzine the coarser the grain of imitation glass 
will be. 

Moulds of Glue and Molasses, Such as Kodgers 
Uses for Making his Statuettes.— The flexible moulds 
referred to are prepared as follows: Glue 8 lbs., molasses (New 
Orleans) 7 lbs. Soak the glue over night in a small quantity of cold 
water, then melt it by heat over a salt water bath, stir until froth 
begins to rise, then add and stir in briskly the molasses previously 
heated. Continue to heat and stir the mixture for about half an hour; 
then pour. 



34 THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 

To Clarify Ijiquicls. — The following composition is said to 
bleach all colored liquids, and to render bone-black perfectly unneces- 
sary. : Albumen 300, neutral tartrate of potash 2, alum 5, sal ammo- 
niac 700 parts. The albumen must of course not be coagulated. 
The ingredients are first dissolved in a little water and then added 
to the liquid to be clarified. 

To prevent Store Whitlows from Steaming.— J. F. 

writes : I am about to have the front show windows of my store 
inclosed with inside windows. Can you tell any way to prevent the 
outside windows frosting in cold weather? A. Clean the glass 
occasionally with a cloth moistened with pure glycerine, wiping it so 
as to leave only a trace of the glycerine adhering to the surface — this 
on the inside. 

Artificial India Rubber.— A cheap and useful substitute 
for india rubber is prepared by mixing a thick solution of glue with 
tungstate of soda and hydrochloric acid. A compound of tungstic 
acid and glue is precipitated, which at a temperature of 86 deg. to 
104 deg. F. is sufficiently elastic to admit of being drawn out into 
very thin sheets. On cooling, this mass becomes solid and brittle, 
but on being heated is again soft and plastic. This new compound 
can be used for many of the purposes to which rubber is adapted. 

Rubber Stamps for Photographs.— Many photographers 

employ a rubber stamp for imprinting the backs of mounts, and in 
these circumstances a good ink is very essential. Here is die 
receipt for making one quoted from the Engineer^ and said to yield 
an excellent ink which, while not drying on the pad, will yet not 
readily smear when impressed upon paper: Aniline red (violet) 
180 grains, distilled water 2 ozs., glycerine i teaspoonful, treacle 
Yz teaspoonful. The crystals of aniline are powdered and dissolved 
in the boiling distilled water, and the other ingredients then added. 



CURIOUS THINGS. 

1. To apparently burn water, fill a glass lamp with water, 
and put into it for a wick a piece of gum camphor. The lamp 
should not be quite full, and the camphor may be left to float 
upon the surface of the water. On touching a lighted match 
to the camphor, up shoots a clear, steady flame, and seems to sink 
below the surface of the water so that the flame is surrounded by 
the liquid. It will burn a long time. If the camphor be ignited in 
a large dish of water it will commonly float about while it burns. 

2. To change the faces of a group to a livid, deathly whiteness, 
and to destroy colors, wet a half teacupful of common salt in alcohol 
and burn it on a plate in a dark room. Let the salt soak a few 
minutes before igniting. The flame will deaden the brightest colors 
in the room, and the dresses of the company will seem to be 
changed. Let each one put his face behind the flame, and it will 
present a most qhastly spectacle to those who stand before it. This 



THE SILENT ASSISTANT. ' 35 

is serviceable in tableaux where terror of death is to be represented. 
The change wrought by the flame, when the materials are properly 
prepared, is very surprising. 

3. To produce spectrum, burn magnesium wire in a dark room, 
and as soon as the flame is extinguished, let each one try to look into 
the others' faces. The spectrum of the extinguished light is clearly 
seen. 

4. Wet a piece of thick wrapping paper, then dry near the stove. 
While dr}-, lay it down upon a varnished table or dn,- woolen cloth, 
and rub it brisklv with a piece of India rubber. It will soon become 
electrified, and if tossed against the wall or the looking-glass will 
stick some time. Tear tissue-paper into bits, one-eighth of an inch 
square, and this piece of electrified paper will draw them. Or take 
a tea-tray and put it on three tumblers. Lay the electric paper 
on it, and on touching the tray you will get a little spark. Let the 
paper lay out of the tray, and on touching the tray again you will 
get another spark, but of the opposite kind of electricity. Replace 
the paper, and you get another, and so on. 

Taking Leaf PhotagrapllS. — A very prett}' amusement, 
especially for those who have just completed the study of botany, 
is the taking of leaf photographs. One very simple process is this: 
At any druggist's get an ounce of bichromate of potassium. Put 
this into a" pint bottle of water. When the solution becomes 
saturated — that is, the water has dissolved as much as it will — 
pour off some of the clear liquid into a shallow dish; on this float 
a piece of ordinary writing paper till it is thoroughly moistened, 
let it dry in the dark. It should be of a bright yellow. On this 
put the leaf, under it a piece of black soft cloth and several sheets 
of newspaper. Put these between two pieces of glass (all the 
pieces should be of the same size), and with spring clothespins 
fasten them together. Expose to a bright sun, placing the leaf so 
that the rays will fall upon it as nearly perpendicular as possible. 
In a few moments it will begin to turn Lrown ; but it requires from 
half an hour to several hours to produce a perfect print. When 
it has become dark enough, take it from the frame, and put it into 
clear water, which must be changed every few minutes until the 
yellow part becomes white. Sometimes the leaf veinings will be 
quite distinct. By following these directions, it is scarcely possible 
to fail, and a little practice will make perfect. 



How to Build a House with Little or No Money. 

This article informs the poor man how he can get a horne of his 
ow'n, but it contains equally valuable suggestions for the rich man, 
showing how he can profitably employ his money and improve his 
land. If the poor man does not act upon these suggestions, it is to 
be hoped that the capitalist will. However, as the poor man needs a 
home more than the capitalist needs ah improved investment, the 



36 THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 

initial steps ought to be taken by the poor man, and we will suppose 
such is the case in dealing with the question. 

Thousands of acres of land are unimproved, and valueless so far 
as earning money is concerned, in every part of this country. This 
land is situated, often, in the limits of, or adjacent to, large cities or 
thriving towns; and it only requires the magic appearance of a hand- 
some villa or tasteful cottages, to double, treble or quadruple the 
value of a whole tract. And millions of money, earning nothing or 
but small rates of interest, seek secure investments, just such as 
improved real estate property affords. If the owner of the land and 
the possessor of the money (he is often one and the same person) 
and the man who needs a home can only come together, and especially 
if the latter can state exactly what he wants, a solution is arrived at 
immediately. 

Perhaps the most intelligent way of getting at the subject is to first 
consider the difficulties in the way: Almost the dally thought of the 
capitalist and owner of unimproved real estate is, how to improve it 
and make it earn something, as well as to enhance it in value. 
Perhaps he has even made a start in that direction and built a row 
of houses, or a number of cottages, only to find no purchasers of 
them, simply because the houses did not meet the wants of those to 
whom he had hoped to sell. Perhaps he has advertised "lots for 
sale," only to be run down by all sorts of traders, who offered him 
mining schemes, patent rights, etc., etc. He makes up his mind at 
last that the only safe way is to wait until the march of improvement 
comes his way. Then, of necessity, his property will be in demand. 
Meanwhile, however, he pays taxes and assessments year after year 
to such an extent, that if the march of improvement should happen 
to travel in another direction, he will realize that he has made a bad 
investment. 

The poor man's difficulty lies, first in a lack of enterprise. He knows 
the advantages of owning a home ; also, in a general way, that there 
is some way of securing a home of his own on terms almost as easy, 
and almost at as little cost, as paying rent; he also knows that if he 
owns a place, the improvement in value in a few years may make him 
a man of independent means; but his time is fully occupied in daily 
labors; he does not meet with capitalists and learn their methods; he 
does not know how to commence or complete a negotiation of such 
a character. This article is intended to help him in these very 
matters. While the directions and suggestions here given may not 
meet every case, a little "mother wit" will supply the necessary modi- 
fications, The all-important thing is to get interested. Then, think- 
ing over the matter, advising with friends, and the aid that the 
Co-operative Building Plan Association extends will supply all the 
rest. 

In order to employ definite figures in the followmg explanations 
we will suppose that the man of small means who wishes to get a 
home of his own, lives in town, and that he would like to build in the 
suburbs; that he has $500 in money, and that his choice of a house is 
No. 17, a Gothic Cottage, costing $1,400, as shown in Book of Plans 



THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 



37 



No. I. Of course, any other sum of money or any other selection of 
either site or house, may be the actual fact and choice. The explana- 
tions will fit the changed conditions equally well. 

The cash or available means being counted, and the style of house 
selected, the next step is to get a site. This is a very important mat- 
ter. As a preliminary, however well he may be acquainted with the 
outlying lands around the town, it is well to make several tours in 
every direction, study which is the best neighborhood, and if improve- 
ment seems to tend in this or that direction; which has the most nat- 
ural beauty and healthfulness, and which has a soil easily drained and 
productive. 

Do not insist on being too close to the town — the land will cost 
more and perhaps lack many advantages which another spot posseses 
a few blocks further on. The town will soon come out to you, 
if it is thriving. It is well to select several sites if possible, say, a 
fist, second and third choice, in order to have a resource if you find 
an owner who does not want to sell, or who will not sell for a fair 
price. And last, but not least, show your wife the selection you have 
made. If her good sense — particularly acute in anything which con- 
cerns a home — approves, then go ahead. 

The next step is to bargain for the land, and if the owner has 
money as well as land, to negotiate for a building loan as well. We 
will suppose such to be the case, and that a fair price for a quarter of 
an acre of land is $150. Great tact must be used here. All sorts of 
men have to be approached in all sorts of ways. If you have a friend 
who is influential with the owner of the land, it might be well to have 
him introduce the matter; but the best way, nine times out of ten, is 
to do your own business, and go directly to the owner. Say to him 
that you have a little money, and that you want to build a house; that 
this fact is of possible interest to him, because you will buy a plot 
of ground from him if he will sell it for a fair price, and that more, 
you will put up a very handsome cottage on this ground, and thus 
start improvements in that section, which will make all of his other 
land more valuable, if he will help you to build the house. Say that 
there is nothing indefinite about your intentions. Here is a picture of 
the very house you will build, and it will cost $1,400; that he can see 
for himself if a structure of that sort on his now vacant lots will not 
enhance the value of all the lots in the neighborhood. Say that you 
will send for building plans, specifications, and a full and exact esti- 
mate of all quantities and materials to be used, also blank agreement 
for the purchaser of the property and a builder's contract. Say, fur- 
ther, that with the plans, specifications and estimates, a contract can 
be made with a builder so that the exact cost of the building will be 
known, and thus exact amounts and exact times of payment can be 
named. Say that you have money to make the first payment to the 
contractor, but that you need help for the other payments, say $1,000, 
which can be paid to the builder as the building progresses, and the 
last payment on its completion, at which time he can give you a deed 
and you will give him a mortgage, paying him interest, and also an 
annual or semi-annual installment of the principal if he wishes it. 



38 THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 

If the owner of the land does not have the money to help you to 
build, ask him if he can suggest some one who will loan the money. 
To sell the land, and start the improvements, he may interest himself 
in the matter to the extent of procuring a loan for you. 

Sometimes the owner of the land or other capitalist will make a 
temporary loan to build the house. Tliere is not much risk in 
accepting this, as after the house is built it is almost certain that you 
can get a permanent loan on mortgage, and thus pay off the temporary 
loan. In most cases, as soon as 'a really handsome house is built 
on a well-selected site, the enhancement in value is immediate. 
It starts a "boom" in that direction. The ground is worth more 
and the property as a whole is more valuable, so the security you 
offer is greater. Even at this early day it is often possible to sell 
out at a handsome profit, and if you were wise enough to have 
bought a generous slice of land, so that you would have enough left on 
which to erect another house, you could build again, and this time pay 
the whole or greater part from your own means. In this country 
the values in real estate never go backward. They advance con- 
tinually and never faster than when improvements are made. The 
erection of one of our handsome cottages is of itself an event which 
is talked of; the beauty of the exterior and the convenience of the 
interior are commented upon. It becomes the talk of the neighbor- 
hood, and the likelihood is that the "building fever " will spread 
and become epidemic. Thus a demand for lots is created, and as 
a consequence they increase in value. 

To build with no money is a more difficult matter. It has been 
done, however, through friendly interest on the part of the owner 
of the land, or when the owner is so impressed with the value 
of starting improvements that he is willing to give credit for both 
the land and for building the house, holding the deed himself until 
a certain amount (say one-third) is paid off by installments, and 
then giving a deed and taking a mortgage. Starting improvements 
is really such an important matter to most owners of vacant lots 
that they will lend willing ears to any plans and proposals, and 
if there is not too much risk, willing purses to carry them out. The 
great attraction of the plan here suggested to a capitalist is that 
it is definite. He sees that it is presented in business shape. You 
say to him, here is exactly what I want. It will cost exactly so 
much. You have exactly such security. 

Another way to build with no money is to propose to the owner 
that, if he will build you a certain house, on a plot of ground selected 
by yourself, you will occupy it and pay him rent, if he will make an 
agreement to sell you the house at a certain price and on such terms 
as you may think fair. 

Still another way to build with little or no money is to join a 
Building Association, or form one with friends and acquaintances 
who have the same object in view. In forming one, however, the 
first step should be to acquaint yourself with the different kinds of 
organizations, which can be done by visiting or corresponding with 
associations already formed, and by procuring books on this subject. 



TkE SILENT ASSISTANT. 39 

One of the simplest forms of association is briefly described below. 
Call a meeting, adopt constitution and by-laws, and elect officers. 
Suppose the association to be composed of twenty members, and 
each member should pay into the treasury $5.00 per month. To 
commence with, the association would have a capital of $100, and 
in six months $600, with some accumulation of interest. One of 
the main things is to always have the money securely invested and 
earning something. Meanwhile it is the interest, and should be the 
duty of each member, to acquaint himself with the most desirable 
building sites and the conditions on which they can be purchased. 
With their united wisdom a very good tract ought to be selected. 
Say the association now purchases two acres, paying for them $400. 
Now divide the property, giving each member about two and a half 
regular building lots (25x100). In due time, by regular payments 
from the members and the accumulation of interest, the association 
has a sufficient fund (say $1,000) to build one house. Now award 
the first building loan to the member who bids the highest premium 
for it, or decide by ballot or chance who shall have it. Advance 
money for building the house as it progresses, to the extent of $1,000 
(less the premium bid), and take a first mortgage on the property 
when completed. Go on successively 'in this way until every member 
has a house, at which time the mortgages on all the houses are 
removed. Any accumulation of cash or assets are usually divided, 
and the association comes to an end. 



SAVE THE STAMPS. 

The value of an article depends largely upon its rarity. Gold is 
useful, but were it to become suddenly as common as iron, and iron as 
scarce as gold, there would be a swift interchange of values, a terrible 
time in the stock market. Diamonds are beautiful, but if they could 
be picked up in the streets like ordinary pebbles they would be placed 
in rockeries instead of being set in rings, and would be readily ex- 
changed for garnets. 

Just now the stamp-collecting mania has infected so many thousands 
that what would otherwise be worthless bits of paper command really 
startling prices. 

" Stamp collecting is the most alluring of hobbies," said a dealer to 
a New York Sun reporter. "There are 6,500 different stamps 
known. The value of certain single stamps is equal to many a per- 
son's yearly income. A leading banker, whose residence is on Madi- 
son Avenue, has an album of stamps worth at the lowest estimate 
$30,000. Another album owned by a lady, is valued at $25,000. I 
could name several more varying in value from $20,000 to $5,000. 

" Are corners in the stamp market possible ? " 

" Certainly; many collectors are at present buying up all the match 
box and medicine revenue stamps which pass out of use in July. 
They hope in a few years to create a corner in the market, and get 
them off their hands at immense prices. We sold a match-box stamp 
yesterday for $15." 



40 THE SILENT ASSISTANT. 

" What collections have been sold at notably large prices ?" 
" There was one sold in London in 1870 for ;i^8,ooo. Another sold 
in Paris last fall for 40,000 francs. We ourselves have sold several 
$5,000 collections. This may surprise you, but remember that some 
of these little stamps sell for more than $200. There is one of the 
old local stamps issued by the Brattleboro, Vt., Post Office in 1846. 
We would not sell it to-day for less than $200. We have many others 
of equal value. The stamps which are most in demand, and bring 
the highest Drices, are the provisional stamps issued from 1844 to 
1846 by the postmasters of Baltimore, St. Louis, and Brattleboro. 
Here is the Brattleboro stamp — a simple frame of single lines in- 
closing a facsimile of the autograph of James Buchanan. The St. 
Louis stamp displays the arms of the State of Missouri, with *St. 
Louis' and the large numeral of value above, and 'P. O.' belov/. 
The Brattleboro stamp consists of the autogrophic initials * T. N, P.' 
in an octagon ground of vertical lines, with ' Brattleboro ' above, and 
'P. O.' at the sides. Any of these can be sold for $200." 
"When and where did this mania for stamp collecting begin.?" 
" It may be said to have originated in London in 1862, when Mount 
Brown, Esq., published the first list of postage stamps. Dr. J. E. 
Gray, of the British Museum, followed with a similar and more com- 
plete work in the same year. These works were widely read, excited 
much curiosity, and caused thousands to become stamp collectors. 
The mania went on increasing until at present I can safely say there 
are more than a million persons seriously devoted to collecting 
stamps." 

GRAINS OF GOLD. 

Few things are impracticable in themselves, and it is for want of 
application rather than of means that men fail of success. 

The use we make of our fortune determines its sufficiency. A 
little is enough if used wisely — too much if used foolishly. 

There is nothing nobler in man than courage ; and the only way to 
be courageous is to be clean-handed and clean-hearted, to be able to 
respect ourselves and face our record. 

The coldest-mannered people are frequently those who look for 
n\ost warmth from others; and, when their expectations are not grati- 
fied, they forget that the coolness they meet with is but a dim reflec- 
tion of their own. 

Bravery is a cheap and vulgar quality, of which the highest in- 
stances are frequently found in the lowest savages, and which is often 
more conspicuous in the brute creation than in the most intrepid of 
the human race. 

Note. — The writer has endeavored to give such receipts only 
as are worthy of every confidence on the ground of being perfectly 
free from all injurious or deleterious ingredients. He has paid 
dearly for receipts which are of an entirely opposite quality, and 
which no consideration whatever, either of money or to satisfy 
curiosity, could induce him to give to the public. 



Ills km Mm^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 184 1Q? P M 

This Agency has been organized \ v^ w 1 1 i ot i J30 ^ # 

and protection to its members. Persox^o «v.ox4.x«^ w, pv^»^«„v,v, ^..j „.„„j,— ^ 
the line of Dry Goods, Fancy Goods, Groceries, Boots and Shoes, Clothing, 
Household Goods, Hardware, Tinware, Books, Novelties, ^otions, Scarce 
Goods, New Inventions, Jewelry, Musical Instruments, etc., will find it 
greatly to their adrantage to consult the American Purchasing and Infor- 
mation Agency before sending their orders elsewhere. 

Ten years of 'constant, daily business experience has given us far greater 
facilities for buying or procuring goods than are possessed by any other 
one house. In our long years of business, we Jiave dealt with every 
responsible dealer, publisher and manufacturer in the United States. 
With very many — we might say nearly all — we have regular business 
relations, and, when such is not the case, our resident buyers and agents 
can always secure, by personal application, special prices and favors 
which no '' outsider " could secure were he on the spot. 

It is a well-known fact that one-half of the so-called Novelty Dealers, 
Publishing Companies, Manufacturing Companies, etc., are swindlers. 
We do not condemn all, but we do know that very many are unreliable. 
Therefore, whenever you see anything advertised, or hear of it, and wish 
it, do not risk even a dime by sending to unknown, unreliable, or dis- 
honest parties, but send all orders to us. You thus secure absolute safety, 
and you will promptly receive whatever you order, provided it is in exist- 
ence; while if it happens to be a swindle, we shall promptly return your 
monev, with a full explanation. 

INFORMATION. — We keep one man constantly busy replying to the 
hundreds of letters that' come to us every week asking for information, 
and are ever ready to furnish any information a member may desire. In 
ten years' experience we have secured valuable knowledge, which can be 
secured only by experience. In ovir office we have records containing 
information Avhich it would be hard to find elsewhere. Then, too, when 
o?<r information fails, we have arrangements by which our city represen- 
tatives have access to lists, records, etc., etc., which enables us to supply 
information on any and every subject desired. 

Frauds, swindlers, cheats and humbugs will be fully and freely exposed, 
and without partiality. Fraud and fraudulent schemes will be ventilated 
without fear or favor by the American Purchasing and Information 
Agency. 

FOUND AT LAST! 

The place to buy Paper and Wood Boxes, Bottles, Stamps, Moulds, Chi;m- 
icals. Labels, Circulars, and all Supplies needed for ManufacturingXgents 
and Canvassers' Goods, Apparatus for making Rubber Printin^mamps, 
Violet Aniline for making Ink Powder and Water Pens, Plum biw. (black 
lead) for Stove Polish, and Paraffine Wax for Starch Enamel aJRci; "^y. 
Don't send to city dealers for your goods when you can makwftheni at 
home and employ Agents yourself. • 

Send for a Wliolesale Price L,ist if you do not have one, and 
address all orders plainly 

HI. C3-. F^-^, 



RUTLAND, VERMONT, 



